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The Wayfinder
A historical epic about a girl from a remote Tongan island who becomes her people's queen.
The Wayfinder is an epic, sweeping novel set in the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific during the height of the Tu’i Tonga Empire. At its heart is Kōrero, a young girl chosen to save her people from the brink of starvation. Her quest takes her from her remote island home on a daring seafaring journey across a vast ocean empire built on power, consumption, and bloodshed.
With the grandeur of Wolf Hall, Shogun, and War and Peace, The Wayfinder immerses readers in a world untouched by Western influence, evoking the lost art of oral storytelling. Far from a conventional swashbuckling adventure, it conjures a world of outrigger canoes and celestial navigation, weaving a narrative that is as much about survival and self-discovery as it is about the sweeping history of the Tongan people.
In this monumental literary work, Adam Johnson explores themes of indigeneity, ecological balance, and the resilience of humanity in the face of scarcity, marking the novel as a profound meditation on both individual and cultural legacy.
21 hrs. 6 mins.
The Wayfinder is an epic, sweeping novel set in the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific during the height of the Tu’i Tonga Empire. At its heart is Kōrero, a young girl chosen to save her people from the brink of starvation. Her quest takes her from her remote island home on a daring seafaring journey across a vast ocean empire built on power, consumption, and bloodshed.
With the grandeur of Wolf Hall, Shogun, and War and Peace, The Wayfinder immerses readers in a world untouched by Western influence, evoking the lost art of oral storytelling. Far from a conventional swashbuckling adventure, it conjures a world of outrigger canoes and celestial navigation, weaving a narrative that is as much about survival and self-discovery as it is about the sweeping history of the Tongan people.
In this monumental literary work, Adam Johnson explores themes of indigeneity, ecological balance, and the resilience of humanity in the face of scarcity, marking the novel as a profound meditation on both individual and cultural legacy.
21 hrs. 6 mins.
27 pages, Audiobook
First published October 14, 2025
1312 people are currently reading
32715 people want to read
About the author
Adam Johnson
15 books1,240 followersAdam Johnson was born in South Dakota and raised in Arizona. He earned a BA in Journalism from Arizona State University in 1992; a MFA from the writing program at McNeese State University, in 1996; and a PhD in English from Florida State University in 2000. Johnson is currently a San Francisco writer and associate professor in creative writing at Stanford University.
He founded the Stanford Graphic Novel Project and was named "one of the nation's most influential and imaginative college professors" by Playboy Magazine. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, Harper's, and The Paris Review. He is the author of Emporium, a short story collection and the novel, Parasites Like Us, which won the California Book Award. His most recent novel, The Orphan Master's Son, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
He founded the Stanford Graphic Novel Project and was named "one of the nation's most influential and imaginative college professors" by Playboy Magazine. His fiction has appeared in Esquire, Harper's, and The Paris Review. He is the author of Emporium, a short story collection and the novel, Parasites Like Us, which won the California Book Award. His most recent novel, The Orphan Master's Son, won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 251 reviews
December 16, 2025
Adam Johnson’s awesome new novel, “The Wayfinder,” takes place almost a thousand years ago in Polynesia, but its real setting is that realm beyond time and place where mortals contend with gods, and mythology and history merge like twinned tree trunks. Johnson, who won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for his previous novel, “The Orphan Master’s Son,” has returned more than a decade later with an epic that feels less created than unearthed.
For almost 100 pages — just the opening breath of this 731-page performance — I kept asking myself, What is “The Wayfinder” like? With its story of a long-delayed and tumultuous homecoming, it’s steeped in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Johnson’s dizzying attention to the mercurial crosscurrents of conquest recalls the intimidating ordeal of Olga Tokarczuk’s “The Books of Jacob.” His bold melding of magic and psychological realism casts a spell as captivating as Marlon James’s “Black Leopard, Red Wolf.” Yet “The Wayfinder” is sui generis — a tapestry of South Pacific myth, archetypal quest, political allegory, environmental jeremiad and feminist revision that feels both ancient and impossibly relevant.
Johnson launches “The Wayfinder” along two converging timelines several months out of sync, like distant birds flying toward the same spot at different speeds. That complicated structure, combined with a large cast of characters and a cascade of Tongan terms (tauʻolunga, matāpule, ʻavapui, etc.), demands a serious investment of attention. But don’t hesitate to lash yourself to the mast of this remarkable voyage.
On the remote island of Manumotu, a 16-year-old girl named Kōrero lives with her family in a community of....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
For almost 100 pages — just the opening breath of this 731-page performance — I kept asking myself, What is “The Wayfinder” like? With its story of a long-delayed and tumultuous homecoming, it’s steeped in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Johnson’s dizzying attention to the mercurial crosscurrents of conquest recalls the intimidating ordeal of Olga Tokarczuk’s “The Books of Jacob.” His bold melding of magic and psychological realism casts a spell as captivating as Marlon James’s “Black Leopard, Red Wolf.” Yet “The Wayfinder” is sui generis — a tapestry of South Pacific myth, archetypal quest, political allegory, environmental jeremiad and feminist revision that feels both ancient and impossibly relevant.
Johnson launches “The Wayfinder” along two converging timelines several months out of sync, like distant birds flying toward the same spot at different speeds. That complicated structure, combined with a large cast of characters and a cascade of Tongan terms (tauʻolunga, matāpule, ʻavapui, etc.), demands a serious investment of attention. But don’t hesitate to lash yourself to the mast of this remarkable voyage.
On the remote island of Manumotu, a 16-year-old girl named Kōrero lives with her family in a community of....
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
December 8, 2025
This sprawling epic about the fight for resources and power in pre-colonial Polynesia is THE SHIT, just give Adam Johnson his second Pulitzer already! Set around 1,000 ago, the bildungsroman centers on four teenagers who come of age by learning the truth about their ancestors, what they have done to nature and other people. Now the young generation has to decide what to make of this heritage - so like all good historical novels, "The Wayfinder" is very current. Korero is the descendant of refugees from New Zealand, her people are trying to survive on a depleted island, and she dreams of becoming a storyteller preserving the tales around her. The other three main protagonists are young men, sons of the king of Tonga hailing from the Sacred South from where he reigns and wages war: The oldest is trained to become his father's successor, but dreads his destiny; the Second Son is a navigator in training; the third is assigned to become a poet.
On a more literal level, the book's title hints to the Second Son and his kind, as in the ancient world, navigators held major power, because they were the ones able to steer ships between the Polynesian islands by reading the stars as maps, a task crucial in the constant hunt for resources. While in the West, the image connected to Polynesia is that of the exotic, strongly influenced by the colonial perspective and replicated for instance in the paintings of Gauguin and Matisse, Johnson portrays the real wars and catastrophes brought about by limited resources and the ruthless, short-sighted exploitation of nature. Johnson is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, his journeys to the Pacific and the South Seas inspired him to do extensive research on the history and culture of indigenous Polynesia. This research is the basis for the extensive incorporation of facts and historical and cultural context to the civilizations we encounter. Johnson stresses traditions of orality and the importance of storytelling regarding questions of identity and destiny, also because he lives with questions about his own heritage as some family stories got lost along the way.
There is added magical realism, with my favorite character Koki, a talking parrot, and elements like a special fan that can resuscitate the dead and a mythical journey to the afterlife, so narrative ideas that transform ancient beliefs into a reality within the narrated world. It took Johnson ten years to finish the novel, there's a vast cast of characters, there are different timelines and lots and lots of subplots - you better don't skip a single one of the more than 700 pages, because they are all packed with info needed to follow the many threads dealing with the loss of innocence, questions of ecology, human short-sightedness and selfishness, as well as the exploitation of both nature and fellow humans who are declared "other", but also the meaning of love, family and beauty, Polynesian poetry and lush descriptions of landscapes and the sea. We meet a traumatized war veteran, a king who harvests souls, young women shipped to serve as dancers at the court, a navigator forced to leave his own family behind to train the king's son, and many, many others.
Johnson is such a skilled storyteller, the intricate composition with alternating story- and timelines, the psychologically complex characters, and the evocations of atmosphere turn this postmodern dare of a text into a page turner, proving that high-concept literature shouldn't be a chore, but a joy. Great stuff.
On a more literal level, the book's title hints to the Second Son and his kind, as in the ancient world, navigators held major power, because they were the ones able to steer ships between the Polynesian islands by reading the stars as maps, a task crucial in the constant hunt for resources. While in the West, the image connected to Polynesia is that of the exotic, strongly influenced by the colonial perspective and replicated for instance in the paintings of Gauguin and Matisse, Johnson portrays the real wars and catastrophes brought about by limited resources and the ruthless, short-sighted exploitation of nature. Johnson is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, his journeys to the Pacific and the South Seas inspired him to do extensive research on the history and culture of indigenous Polynesia. This research is the basis for the extensive incorporation of facts and historical and cultural context to the civilizations we encounter. Johnson stresses traditions of orality and the importance of storytelling regarding questions of identity and destiny, also because he lives with questions about his own heritage as some family stories got lost along the way.
There is added magical realism, with my favorite character Koki, a talking parrot, and elements like a special fan that can resuscitate the dead and a mythical journey to the afterlife, so narrative ideas that transform ancient beliefs into a reality within the narrated world. It took Johnson ten years to finish the novel, there's a vast cast of characters, there are different timelines and lots and lots of subplots - you better don't skip a single one of the more than 700 pages, because they are all packed with info needed to follow the many threads dealing with the loss of innocence, questions of ecology, human short-sightedness and selfishness, as well as the exploitation of both nature and fellow humans who are declared "other", but also the meaning of love, family and beauty, Polynesian poetry and lush descriptions of landscapes and the sea. We meet a traumatized war veteran, a king who harvests souls, young women shipped to serve as dancers at the court, a navigator forced to leave his own family behind to train the king's son, and many, many others.
Johnson is such a skilled storyteller, the intricate composition with alternating story- and timelines, the psychologically complex characters, and the evocations of atmosphere turn this postmodern dare of a text into a page turner, proving that high-concept literature shouldn't be a chore, but a joy. Great stuff.
May 1, 2025
When I started this as an ebook I had no idea what I was in for. This is a hefty book at over 700 pages.
Split between the Tongan royal family and a remote island where the residents are slowly starving with nowhere to go, you have a tale of political intrigue and royal succession contrasted against a coming of age survival story. The worlds collide and the staggered timeline means we gradually uncover what brought them together.
There is something epic about this book. It feels like a homeric poem or shakespearean tragedy with characters unequivocally destined to their fates. Despite this epic length and scope it maintains a steady pacing that makes it hard to put down. Each new event feels weighty and predestined.
It feels exceptionally well researched. I will say at the start it felt a bit like reading a history textbook and took a while for the story to pick up. But I do appreciate how much I’ve learned about this time and place.
Central themes include storytelling/oral history, abuse of power, depletion of natural resources, belonging, and cycles of violence especially in the context of war.
This book is dark. Though not gratuitous (imo), there is a constant grind of violence, especially against women, which makes for difficult reading at times. One man in particular is such a chilling figure and sections from his perspective were deeply unnerving. But each character, especially on the Tongan side has their villainous moments which attests to how power and violence both corrupt. Horrific acts are justified by duty and blame can always be shifted elsewhere.
This is absolutely going to stick with me for a long time. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC.
Split between the Tongan royal family and a remote island where the residents are slowly starving with nowhere to go, you have a tale of political intrigue and royal succession contrasted against a coming of age survival story. The worlds collide and the staggered timeline means we gradually uncover what brought them together.
There is something epic about this book. It feels like a homeric poem or shakespearean tragedy with characters unequivocally destined to their fates. Despite this epic length and scope it maintains a steady pacing that makes it hard to put down. Each new event feels weighty and predestined.
It feels exceptionally well researched. I will say at the start it felt a bit like reading a history textbook and took a while for the story to pick up. But I do appreciate how much I’ve learned about this time and place.
Central themes include storytelling/oral history, abuse of power, depletion of natural resources, belonging, and cycles of violence especially in the context of war.
This book is dark. Though not gratuitous (imo), there is a constant grind of violence, especially against women, which makes for difficult reading at times. One man in particular is such a chilling figure and sections from his perspective were deeply unnerving. But each character, especially on the Tongan side has their villainous moments which attests to how power and violence both corrupt. Horrific acts are justified by duty and blame can always be shifted elsewhere.
This is absolutely going to stick with me for a long time. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC.
January 22, 2025
Pulitzer 2026
November 28, 2025
I love all things Polynesian, and this epic saga delivered the goods. What a treat to be immersed in this world for a week! Highly recommend, but understand this book will require your utmost attention and concentration - but you will be richly rewarded.
Massive book hangover ensuing now…….
Massive book hangover ensuing now…….
October 1, 2025
I’m a HUGE Adam Johnson fan! I think “The Orphan Master’s Son” is a masterpiece, and I’m not alone in that. Thus, I was thrilled to dive into his new novel, “The Wayfinder”.
There are a few things I wish I had known when I started this EPIC novel (that is not hyperbole, it’s an epic) and so I’m going to share those things in this unconventional “review”.
First, don’t be daunted by the 700+ page count. Flip through it – you’ll see that it is mostly dialogue and which reads quickly.
Next, you might wonder if you are going to find a story set a thousand years ago in the Polynesian islands interesting or relevant. Trust me (and Adam Johnson) you will. At this time, many of the islands had been depleted of their resources, they had cut down all their trees, their animal populations had gone extinct, and the inhabitants were starving. Some turned to invading their neighbors for food and slaves.
The list of islands and the “cast of characters” on each island, at the beginning of the book is very useful. Don’t be worried about all the “weird” sounding names and places. You’ll soon get used to them, and you have this handy reference to flip back to if you get confused.
The narrative is NOT LINEAR. The basic story is told in alternating chapters starting with the first-person narrator Korero, a young woman who lives with her small family on a very remote island called Manumotu. They are running out food and are starting to starve. Her narrative is the present.
In the other chapters we are on the island of Tonga, ruled by a royal family; the king and queen have three sons. The oldest is being groomed to become the next king, the second to be a navigator, and the third to be a poet. These chapters concern the past.
One day a ship from Tonga carrying the Wayfinder, lands on Manumotu and meets Korero and her people. Will they be rescued from sure extinction or will they perish at sea?
The reader will learn things in the “present” chapters, such as characters who are now dead. In the “past” chapters we find out how and why.
This structure may sound confusing BUT IT ISN’T. Adam Johnson employs this device elegantly and effectively. Also worth noting is that there are dark and violent parts of this story, but there is humor as well!
Johnson shows us that the human condition wasn’t so different 1000 years ago than it is now. We love, we protect our families, we fight, we crave home and safety even as we cave adventure. And we must find a way to conserve resources to survive and thrive.
Of course, I’ve only given you the bare bones of this rich, compelling, and action-packed novel! Dive on in!
There are a few things I wish I had known when I started this EPIC novel (that is not hyperbole, it’s an epic) and so I’m going to share those things in this unconventional “review”.
First, don’t be daunted by the 700+ page count. Flip through it – you’ll see that it is mostly dialogue and which reads quickly.
Next, you might wonder if you are going to find a story set a thousand years ago in the Polynesian islands interesting or relevant. Trust me (and Adam Johnson) you will. At this time, many of the islands had been depleted of their resources, they had cut down all their trees, their animal populations had gone extinct, and the inhabitants were starving. Some turned to invading their neighbors for food and slaves.
The list of islands and the “cast of characters” on each island, at the beginning of the book is very useful. Don’t be worried about all the “weird” sounding names and places. You’ll soon get used to them, and you have this handy reference to flip back to if you get confused.
The narrative is NOT LINEAR. The basic story is told in alternating chapters starting with the first-person narrator Korero, a young woman who lives with her small family on a very remote island called Manumotu. They are running out food and are starting to starve. Her narrative is the present.
In the other chapters we are on the island of Tonga, ruled by a royal family; the king and queen have three sons. The oldest is being groomed to become the next king, the second to be a navigator, and the third to be a poet. These chapters concern the past.
One day a ship from Tonga carrying the Wayfinder, lands on Manumotu and meets Korero and her people. Will they be rescued from sure extinction or will they perish at sea?
The reader will learn things in the “present” chapters, such as characters who are now dead. In the “past” chapters we find out how and why.
This structure may sound confusing BUT IT ISN’T. Adam Johnson employs this device elegantly and effectively. Also worth noting is that there are dark and violent parts of this story, but there is humor as well!
Johnson shows us that the human condition wasn’t so different 1000 years ago than it is now. We love, we protect our families, we fight, we crave home and safety even as we cave adventure. And we must find a way to conserve resources to survive and thrive.
Of course, I’ve only given you the bare bones of this rich, compelling, and action-packed novel! Dive on in!
August 20, 2025
Simply put, this one has the makings of a modern classic. The best book I've read in a long time. Johnson tackles all the big themes of life: love, war, religion, gender relations, resource depletion, the clash between cultures - all nestled in the difficult and tender interactions of human beings. The story weaves deftly between two timelines, so subtly that you don't notice until about halfway through. Korero is a teenage girl living on a Pacific Island that is nearing the end of its resources, and its people have forgotten how to navigate the sea to go to somewhere new. Her story interacts with two Tongan boys, the sons of the Tongan king, caught in the end of their father's life and the intrusion of Aho, the king's PTSD-laden brother and his uncontrollable violence. Aho is an especially nuanced character, broken and tender-hearted but with a violent streak he can't control that makes him difficult to like. As the characters voyage between islands, we see the violence inherent in imperial systems, the result of casual depletion of the land, and the fallout that ordinary people suffer while the guards are changed. I learned much about Polynesian culture and history - all the more remarkable given the author's American background. Highly recommended for a long and engrossing reading that will stay in your head all day, and urge you to return.
December 4, 2025
I'm convinced there is a 4 or even 5-star novel lying dormant here. At no point is the writing ever bad, nor the story uninteresting. It just takes a surprising amount of time to get rolling. The immaturity of the characters in the opening chapters of Korero's story becomes tiresome, and the POV shifts sometimes detract from the storytelling by almost spoiling plot points that would have been more effectively revealed through a straight forward narrative structure. Overall, well worth reading and a solid 3 - 3.5. It's just a little frustrating to be teased with the novel's untapped potential.
November 2, 2025
The Wayfinder is an epic saga set around a thousand years ago in Polynesia. Kōrero is a young woman from a tiny sparsely populated island. The island residents are refugees from slavery on the brink of starvation. Two sons of the King of Tonga arrive on their shores, including one who can read the stars and navigate the local waters. By accepting their help, the islanders unwittingly become part of the empire’s political turmoil and violence. Kōrero’s destiny converges with the “second son” of the Tongan Empire. She must undertake a journey to save her people. Both characters can be considered “wayfinders.”
I will not try to summarize the plot since it is complex and covers a wide swath of Oceania, especially Tonga, Fisi (Fiji), and Aotearoa (New Zealand). It contains a vast cast of characters and is told in two timelines. The world building has depth and is filled with vivid cultural details. The novel includes Polynesian oral storytelling traditions and elements of magical realism. As with any novel of this size (over 700 pages), the pacing ebbs and flows, and probably could have been shorter. It is beautifully written and sure to be nominated for literary prizes.
I will not try to summarize the plot since it is complex and covers a wide swath of Oceania, especially Tonga, Fisi (Fiji), and Aotearoa (New Zealand). It contains a vast cast of characters and is told in two timelines. The world building has depth and is filled with vivid cultural details. The novel includes Polynesian oral storytelling traditions and elements of magical realism. As with any novel of this size (over 700 pages), the pacing ebbs and flows, and probably could have been shorter. It is beautifully written and sure to be nominated for literary prizes.
October 6, 2025
tl;dr Exhaustively researched, densely populated, and emotionally earnest, Adam Johnson’s Polynesian epic is a fantastical tale that feels a bit too familiar
On a Polynesian isle long ago, a girl is fated to go on a great journey to save the people of her failing island. Yes, this is the plot of Disney’s Moana, but so too is it the plot of Adam Johnson’s epic The Wayfinder, which is an extensively researched piece of historical fiction, a grand adventure, and a tale of power and survival. It’s an epic, filled with action, violence, hope, despair, and political intrigue, but it’s not without shortcomings.
The Wayfinder is split into two timelines: Kōrero’s journey, presented in first person, and many characters on the island of Tonga, which is at war with Fisi (Fiji), and whose king (Tui) is beset by kidney disease, and therefore in need of an heir. Johnson balances these two timelines with grace and deftness; I thought the cuts between Kōrero’s story and Tonga were excellent, the threads weaving in a propulsive manner. There’s an absolutely heartwrenching scene in the middle of Kōrero’s story, and the tension towards the book’s conclusion from that point is utterly riveting.
There are tons of characters whose POV we get at some point in the story (besides Kōrero, our only first person POV, we have a king, his sons, each of his sons’ mentors, the servant girls, a talking parrot, and many more) : embrace the family tree. This ARC didn’t have the map spread ready yet, but I imagine that would be immensely helpful. I had to make myself a family tree to refer to throughout, and eventually I was able to internalize the different characters and relationships without issue (so long as I had my tree on hand).
Thematically, The Wayfinder deals with power and survival, but also stories and words. Besides the fact that this book, at 736 pages, is certainly not short on words, there are several characters who truly embody the idea of words-as-legacy. Kōrero is a storytelling apprentice of sorts; there is a Tongan character who is mentored by a poet:
However, the words that comprise The Wayfinder aren’t always the most interesting. Johnson writes with considerable stylistic economy. Sometimes I found it hard to differentiate the third-person POV of the Tonga chapters from the first-person POV “Kōrero” chapters, resulting in a textural sameness that grew somewhat tiresome. The actual plot of the book is engaging, but I would have loved just a touch more style from Johnson, which I know from reading Fortune Smiles that he’s more than capable of. In my experience, stylistic restraint works if you’re focusing on the interior world of a character or two (a la Elizabeth Strout, Jhumpa Lahiri), but in the case of The Wayfinder there are so many settings and so many characters that it ends up feeling slightly underseasoned.
Between this novel and Fortune Smiles, Adam Johnson doesn’t strike me as the type to employ much subtlety in his writing. On one hand, it helped smoothen a reading experience so long and so populated. However, this sometimes crossed the line from smooth to overly frictionless; reiterating characters’ motives and desires rendered some of the reading experience hollow. We’re reminded that Lolohea, the King of Tonga’s eldest, must complete his three tests, over and over again.
The research is clear, but bleeds into several aspects of the storytelling. Several times, mostly towards the beginning of the novel, Johnson feels the need to explain certain aspects (these sub-chapters are headed with “A Word About…”), which break up the flow of the otherwise engaging story. Individual words also act as obstacles. The problem of non-English words in an English text will, by design, never have an elegant solution (I point to the winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize “Heart Lamp”, which brazenly left non-English words un-italicized and untranslated, to polarizing effect (I liked it)).
Johnson’s solution felt somewhat inconsistent, which is to have characters say a word, in Tongan for example, and then explain what it is in English. This isn’t a universal rule, however. Some words we’re left to extrapolate, and others (such as a very plot-crucial Tongan artifact) are mentioned once by their native name, but then referred to by their “Capitalized English Translation” for the rest of the book. I’m not sure the best way to word this feeling, but given that this novel is very much for Western audiences, this had the feeling of “Western story in Polynesian dressing”.
What I was most excited for was the feeling of being transported to this world and time. However, this presentation of the culture resulted in feeling like this was a story and setting “adapted” for a Western audience. Given the blurb’s comparison to “Shogun”, it shouldn’t be too surprising. Sure, I encountered countless words and names I had never seen before, but over the course of 736 pages, I didn’t feel like I was experiencing anything particularly novel. The aforementioned Disney film fills this niche in a similar fashion: a comfy formula with Polynesian set dressing. It all goes down a bit too easy.
I think this historical epic will cross over more comfortably with regular readers of fantasy, given the sense of adventure, the hints of magic realism, and the ginormous cast of characters. The uncomplicated story arc will feel comfortable to those accustomed to the trappings of the genre. After 736 pages, I certainly feel like I went on a journey, but somehow, I’m still left a bit wanting.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) for the advance copy!
Like a fire moving across a wooded island, life wasn’t the fleeing of the animals but the tindered consumption of the flame: slow-walking, the crackling red was what we considered time, and we were but the fuel that curled in its heat. (p. 704)
On a Polynesian isle long ago, a girl is fated to go on a great journey to save the people of her failing island. Yes, this is the plot of Disney’s Moana, but so too is it the plot of Adam Johnson’s epic The Wayfinder, which is an extensively researched piece of historical fiction, a grand adventure, and a tale of power and survival. It’s an epic, filled with action, violence, hope, despair, and political intrigue, but it’s not without shortcomings.
The Wayfinder is split into two timelines: Kōrero’s journey, presented in first person, and many characters on the island of Tonga, which is at war with Fisi (Fiji), and whose king (Tui) is beset by kidney disease, and therefore in need of an heir. Johnson balances these two timelines with grace and deftness; I thought the cuts between Kōrero’s story and Tonga were excellent, the threads weaving in a propulsive manner. There’s an absolutely heartwrenching scene in the middle of Kōrero’s story, and the tension towards the book’s conclusion from that point is utterly riveting.
There are tons of characters whose POV we get at some point in the story (besides Kōrero, our only first person POV, we have a king, his sons, each of his sons’ mentors, the servant girls, a talking parrot, and many more) : embrace the family tree. This ARC didn’t have the map spread ready yet, but I imagine that would be immensely helpful. I had to make myself a family tree to refer to throughout, and eventually I was able to internalize the different characters and relationships without issue (so long as I had my tree on hand).
Thematically, The Wayfinder deals with power and survival, but also stories and words. Besides the fact that this book, at 736 pages, is certainly not short on words, there are several characters who truly embody the idea of words-as-legacy. Kōrero is a storytelling apprentice of sorts; there is a Tongan character who is mentored by a poet:
“...it’s only through poetry that he’ll come to love our language. For, if he doesn’t love our Tongan words, if he doesn’t see their beauty, he’ll learn our language as a slave learns to farm our fields, knowing he’ll never taste the food he grows.” (p. 412)
However, the words that comprise The Wayfinder aren’t always the most interesting. Johnson writes with considerable stylistic economy. Sometimes I found it hard to differentiate the third-person POV of the Tonga chapters from the first-person POV “Kōrero” chapters, resulting in a textural sameness that grew somewhat tiresome. The actual plot of the book is engaging, but I would have loved just a touch more style from Johnson, which I know from reading Fortune Smiles that he’s more than capable of. In my experience, stylistic restraint works if you’re focusing on the interior world of a character or two (a la Elizabeth Strout, Jhumpa Lahiri), but in the case of The Wayfinder there are so many settings and so many characters that it ends up feeling slightly underseasoned.
Between this novel and Fortune Smiles, Adam Johnson doesn’t strike me as the type to employ much subtlety in his writing. On one hand, it helped smoothen a reading experience so long and so populated. However, this sometimes crossed the line from smooth to overly frictionless; reiterating characters’ motives and desires rendered some of the reading experience hollow. We’re reminded that Lolohea, the King of Tonga’s eldest, must complete his three tests, over and over again.
The research is clear, but bleeds into several aspects of the storytelling. Several times, mostly towards the beginning of the novel, Johnson feels the need to explain certain aspects (these sub-chapters are headed with “A Word About…”), which break up the flow of the otherwise engaging story. Individual words also act as obstacles. The problem of non-English words in an English text will, by design, never have an elegant solution (I point to the winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize “Heart Lamp”, which brazenly left non-English words un-italicized and untranslated, to polarizing effect (I liked it)).
Johnson’s solution felt somewhat inconsistent, which is to have characters say a word, in Tongan for example, and then explain what it is in English. This isn’t a universal rule, however. Some words we’re left to extrapolate, and others (such as a very plot-crucial Tongan artifact) are mentioned once by their native name, but then referred to by their “Capitalized English Translation” for the rest of the book. I’m not sure the best way to word this feeling, but given that this novel is very much for Western audiences, this had the feeling of “Western story in Polynesian dressing”.
What I was most excited for was the feeling of being transported to this world and time. However, this presentation of the culture resulted in feeling like this was a story and setting “adapted” for a Western audience. Given the blurb’s comparison to “Shogun”, it shouldn’t be too surprising. Sure, I encountered countless words and names I had never seen before, but over the course of 736 pages, I didn’t feel like I was experiencing anything particularly novel. The aforementioned Disney film fills this niche in a similar fashion: a comfy formula with Polynesian set dressing. It all goes down a bit too easy.
I think this historical epic will cross over more comfortably with regular readers of fantasy, given the sense of adventure, the hints of magic realism, and the ginormous cast of characters. The uncomplicated story arc will feel comfortable to those accustomed to the trappings of the genre. After 736 pages, I certainly feel like I went on a journey, but somehow, I’m still left a bit wanting.
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) for the advance copy!
October 31, 2025
4.5, rounded up
July 26, 2025
This was an EPIC read in all senses of the word. The immersion in the Tonga islands and its way of life more then 1000 years ago. It's when people of peace meet people of war, both surviving in different ways. One on the brink of starvation while the other, despite abundance, need warfare to keep that way of life. But most of all, it's when Kōrero crosses paths with the Wayfinder, and she leads her people to a new life. What's especially interesting is that the people of those islands, have never been colonized by Western ways and have retained their culture throughout the centuries. Meticulously researched and lyrically told, Adam Johnson is a born storyteller.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
November 6, 2025
If this book doesn’t win all the awards next year, there is no justice in the world.
November 13, 2025
Magical and beautiful epic story.
“Love is the only enduring topic. For what is the point of surviving if you have no one to live for?”
Adam Johnson took ten years to write this epic story about the people of several pacific islands, today known as Fiji and Hawaii. If you’d like to immerse yourself in a world, a place, people, that is truly magical, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
“Love is the only enduring topic. For what is the point of surviving if you have no one to live for?”
Adam Johnson took ten years to write this epic story about the people of several pacific islands, today known as Fiji and Hawaii. If you’d like to immerse yourself in a world, a place, people, that is truly magical, this is the book for you. Highly recommended.
Read
October 25, 2025If you pick up this book don’t expect it to be anything like The Orphan Master’s Son.
While this is richly researched, I found it tedious and overly verbose and detailed.
I was often confused as to which king, brother, uncle was being discussed and what timeline I was in and what island the events were occurring in. There is much fan waving, reviving the dead and powerful magic which while interesting, felt was over-done once you have encountered your second or third zombie.
To say this was a hard slog would be an understatement.
While this is richly researched, I found it tedious and overly verbose and detailed.
I was often confused as to which king, brother, uncle was being discussed and what timeline I was in and what island the events were occurring in. There is much fan waving, reviving the dead and powerful magic which while interesting, felt was over-done once you have encountered your second or third zombie.
To say this was a hard slog would be an understatement.
December 5, 2025
After much reflection, I think this might be one of those cases where it's not the book, it's me.
This has been a strange book, which I thought I'd enjoy more than I did. Once I got over the urge to translate and research every single Maōri term I came across and just allowed the language to fill my imagination, I was able to flow more with the stories. It is clear the 10 years the author spent writing this involved an inordinate amount of research, and I have certainly learnt much through the book itself and through parallel reading and research.
As a novel, however, I struggled to connect with the stories and characters. The way the author writes lends itself to a certain distance, an emotional detachment, where you never really get to know any of the characters and the emotional consequences of the terrible things that happen are glossed over.
I must also acknowledge that going in I thought I would find the story of an adventure starting, the dawn of the empire, where everything was new and the possibilities endless. I also thought the magical aspects would play a bigger role, that the brothers would finally reach the land of the dead, that a goddess would make an appearance here or there. Alas, this book was not that story, but rather a story of dusk, of an empire ending, a people dying, and the short-sightedness of the privileged who hoard wealth while letting entire ecosystems and populations collapse.
I was also jarred by both the sheer amount of sexual violence and the characters dragging around nets full of semi decomposed human remains and bones. I could sometimes feel that I was able to smell them.
Overall, the story was informative and interesting, but not gripping; it dragged often and many important things were hinted at instead of shown. In a way, I kept wondering if this story would have deserved at least 2 books to really flesh out all the amazing stories that ended up on the sidelines. When I started reading it I equated it to Mantel's "Wolf Hall", and I think the comparison stands firm in terms of the writing technique and approach to storytelling.
This has been a strange book, which I thought I'd enjoy more than I did. Once I got over the urge to translate and research every single Maōri term I came across and just allowed the language to fill my imagination, I was able to flow more with the stories. It is clear the 10 years the author spent writing this involved an inordinate amount of research, and I have certainly learnt much through the book itself and through parallel reading and research.
As a novel, however, I struggled to connect with the stories and characters. The way the author writes lends itself to a certain distance, an emotional detachment, where you never really get to know any of the characters and the emotional consequences of the terrible things that happen are glossed over.
I must also acknowledge that going in I thought I would find the story of an adventure starting, the dawn of the empire, where everything was new and the possibilities endless. I also thought the magical aspects would play a bigger role, that the brothers would finally reach the land of the dead, that a goddess would make an appearance here or there. Alas, this book was not that story, but rather a story of dusk, of an empire ending, a people dying, and the short-sightedness of the privileged who hoard wealth while letting entire ecosystems and populations collapse.
I was also jarred by both the sheer amount of sexual violence and the characters dragging around nets full of semi decomposed human remains and bones. I could sometimes feel that I was able to smell them.
Overall, the story was informative and interesting, but not gripping; it dragged often and many important things were hinted at instead of shown. In a way, I kept wondering if this story would have deserved at least 2 books to really flesh out all the amazing stories that ended up on the sidelines. When I started reading it I equated it to Mantel's "Wolf Hall", and I think the comparison stands firm in terms of the writing technique and approach to storytelling.
September 30, 2025
The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson will be the book of the year, if not the decade!
Set in ancient Polynesia, Johnson launches immediately into the world of Korero, a young girl whose island is on the brink of extinction. They take desperate measures to try and stay alive, even resorting to turning over the graves of their ancestors searching for anything that might help them. That is, until a mysterious stranger and his brother arrive to the island, saying that they were from a place called Tonga, and Korero wonders if perhaps this stranger will help save her people from starvation.
A sweeping, seafaring epic, The Wayfinder manages to pull off something truly impossible. Every character is so dynamic and life-like, the plot is full of intrigue and keeps the reader on their toes, and the book itself is as well written as a book can be. It is so refreshing to read a modern classic like this, and be reminded that good books really are out there. The Wayfinder is a showstopper, and Johnson keeps you on the edge of your seat for every page of it. I read the entire thing in less than a week, and have even been back to reread it since. Johnson's background in nonfiction and journalism really comes through in how well-researched this novel is, though it never takes away from the epic tale. You truly feel like you are in ancient Tonga when you read it, and once you start it, you won't be able to get the characters out of your head! Fans of Johnson will remember his Pulitzer prize winning novel The Orphan Masters Son and his story collection Fortune Smiles, and let me tell you, those were tough acts to follow but he has done it again with the masterpiece that is The Wayfinder!
I was privledged enough to be able to read an advanced copy of The Wayfinder.
Set in ancient Polynesia, Johnson launches immediately into the world of Korero, a young girl whose island is on the brink of extinction. They take desperate measures to try and stay alive, even resorting to turning over the graves of their ancestors searching for anything that might help them. That is, until a mysterious stranger and his brother arrive to the island, saying that they were from a place called Tonga, and Korero wonders if perhaps this stranger will help save her people from starvation.
A sweeping, seafaring epic, The Wayfinder manages to pull off something truly impossible. Every character is so dynamic and life-like, the plot is full of intrigue and keeps the reader on their toes, and the book itself is as well written as a book can be. It is so refreshing to read a modern classic like this, and be reminded that good books really are out there. The Wayfinder is a showstopper, and Johnson keeps you on the edge of your seat for every page of it. I read the entire thing in less than a week, and have even been back to reread it since. Johnson's background in nonfiction and journalism really comes through in how well-researched this novel is, though it never takes away from the epic tale. You truly feel like you are in ancient Tonga when you read it, and once you start it, you won't be able to get the characters out of your head! Fans of Johnson will remember his Pulitzer prize winning novel The Orphan Masters Son and his story collection Fortune Smiles, and let me tell you, those were tough acts to follow but he has done it again with the masterpiece that is The Wayfinder!
I was privledged enough to be able to read an advanced copy of The Wayfinder.
November 18, 2025
I came here to see what others were saying because I’m just so utterly bored and having such a hard time getting into this book. There are too many characters, not enough interesting events, and no reason to be invested in any of the characters. I normally don’t mind when a book introduces so many characters in the beginning to build a world, and having the list of characters in the beginning helped, but they are all so disconnected that I just can’t find a reason to care. When you have to turn to ChatGpt to figure out what’s going on, that’s a problem. Since I spent so much money on it at B&N I’ll give it a couple more chapters, but I’m disappointed. His writing is great, but this could have done with fewer cultural words and characters. Get us acclimated with a narrator and story and stick with it for a few chapters instead of the throwing everything at us in the first three chapters. **UPDATE*** I just can't keep torturing myself. I'm only at page 110 and I am returning this to B&N. It's just so bad. For reference: I am a high school English teacher. I am patient and tolerant, but this was too expensive to be this bored and turned off.
August 30, 2025
An epic saga the likes of Ken Follett or James Michener featuring the early days of the Tongan Empire in what is now the Polynesian Islands. Survival on these islands means a steady food supply, no devastating storms, strong leadership and avoiding warring tribes from other islands. One island is dying and they must find another island to relocate. Warring islands, power struggles and fear all play a part in this story but at its heart it is the exploration, quest for the unknown and trust that I enjoyed. A strong female leader, island culture, ancient navigation practices using star tattoos and a magical parrot added to the uniqueness of this story. This is not a quick read but it is a captivating look at a culture we know little about. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
November 8, 2025
I hate to say it- I have no idea what even happened in this 26 hour way too long listen of a book. I am all for learning of new places, times and cultures but this book is capital C Confusing at best. Skipping around, referring to people by different names, no context for events. And this could be due to the narration, but I found there to be zero character development. I suggest a big hard pass unless you are ok wasting your time.
Want to read
March 31, 2025Good lord that is a terrible cover
January 3, 2026
I am in love with this book. It’s Polynesian war and peace it’s Tongan Iliad it’s something much more beautiful than either of those things.
My mother of all people pressed Adam Johnson’s stories, emporium, into my hands over twenty years ago and I imprinted on them hopelessly and called it my favorite book. How cool to be reading Johnson twenty years later and equally in love.
My mother of all people pressed Adam Johnson’s stories, emporium, into my hands over twenty years ago and I imprinted on them hopelessly and called it my favorite book. How cool to be reading Johnson twenty years later and equally in love.
November 10, 2025
Adam Johnson skyrocketed to literary fame when his thrilling novel The Orphan Master’s Son was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize. Two years later, he landed a National Book Award for his compelling collection of stories Fortune Smiles. Now after a decade he returns with another novel The Wayfinder, a colossal tome of an epic about life in the Polynesian islands over a thousand years ago.
The novel has dual storylines: one voiced by the young girl Korero who tells of her life on a small isolated island on the brink of famine, and so she goes on a seafaring journey to save her people; and the other is told by an omniscient narrator who chronicles the warring factions throughout the empire of Tonga, particularly the conflict between the ailing King Tu’itonga and his rash, violent brother ‘Aho.
What kept me interested throughout the oftentimes tedious length of the novel were its many supernatural elements: palavering birds, resurrected corpses, characters communing with the dreamworld, reality merging with the afterlife, the vitality found in mythmaking, the preservation of storytelling, and the immersion in ancient language and belief systems.
The length of the novel and its verbosity, however, became a slog. The plot’s scattered dual storylines create a confusing timeline. Even as the supernatural elements are fascinating, they too become redundant along with endless dialogue sequences that can be hard to follow the point of their exchange. The prose strangely goes from lazy and passive to having refined sentences and passages even on the same page.
The Wayfinder has sections and chapters that are well delivered while many portions feel as though Johnson just kept adding bulks of information over a decade of working on this project to the point where he neglected concision. In a novel of over 700 pages that complies hundreds of vignettes and jumps from one skirmish and dalliance to another and covers dozens of characters, none of whom are overly memorable, I felt more exhausted than rewarded for having finished this journey.
The novel has dual storylines: one voiced by the young girl Korero who tells of her life on a small isolated island on the brink of famine, and so she goes on a seafaring journey to save her people; and the other is told by an omniscient narrator who chronicles the warring factions throughout the empire of Tonga, particularly the conflict between the ailing King Tu’itonga and his rash, violent brother ‘Aho.
What kept me interested throughout the oftentimes tedious length of the novel were its many supernatural elements: palavering birds, resurrected corpses, characters communing with the dreamworld, reality merging with the afterlife, the vitality found in mythmaking, the preservation of storytelling, and the immersion in ancient language and belief systems.
The length of the novel and its verbosity, however, became a slog. The plot’s scattered dual storylines create a confusing timeline. Even as the supernatural elements are fascinating, they too become redundant along with endless dialogue sequences that can be hard to follow the point of their exchange. The prose strangely goes from lazy and passive to having refined sentences and passages even on the same page.
The Wayfinder has sections and chapters that are well delivered while many portions feel as though Johnson just kept adding bulks of information over a decade of working on this project to the point where he neglected concision. In a novel of over 700 pages that complies hundreds of vignettes and jumps from one skirmish and dalliance to another and covers dozens of characters, none of whom are overly memorable, I felt more exhausted than rewarded for having finished this journey.
September 7, 2025
WOW! Weeks later and I am still obsessively thinking about this novel.
Epic historical fiction with a twist of magical realism, The Wayfinder follows a Tongan royal family facing political upheaval and a community on a distant island facing starvation. It is a dual timeline with multiple viewpoints that makes you feel totally immersed in the story.
The pacing is slow but steady, the writing is beautiful and compelling, the story feels well researched and is RICH in themes. In turns exploring depletion of natural resources, how power and violence corrupt, gender, identity, and the influence of storytelling and language.
This novel was around 700 pages and still managed to leave me wanting more.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC for this novel.
Epic historical fiction with a twist of magical realism, The Wayfinder follows a Tongan royal family facing political upheaval and a community on a distant island facing starvation. It is a dual timeline with multiple viewpoints that makes you feel totally immersed in the story.
The pacing is slow but steady, the writing is beautiful and compelling, the story feels well researched and is RICH in themes. In turns exploring depletion of natural resources, how power and violence corrupt, gender, identity, and the influence of storytelling and language.
This novel was around 700 pages and still managed to leave me wanting more.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC for this novel.
December 23, 2025
A beautiful amalgamation of adventure, intrigue, and story to create a novel that feels more like passed down myth than created tale. This novel of the Polynesian islands a full millennium ago is one of the best books of this year or any year.
November 15, 2025
An epic novel which takes place many hundreds of years ago, set in the Polynesian islands. There are two storylines which eventually converge: korero, a young woman living on an island where starvation and extinction confronts the inhabitants due to their environmental abuse of the land, sea and air, becomes the salvation of her people. She connects with two mysterious strangers who arrive at her island, the Wayfinder and his brother. In order for her people to survive, they convince her she must risk searching for another island. They arrive in Tonga. this is where the storylines converge. The second storyline has been about the brutal and warring Tongans, whose king knows he’s dying. His sons and the king’s VERY brutal brother vie for his job. Tongan treatment of women is horrifying; killing one’s enemies and collecting their brains and souls in coconut shells; abuse of power; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Powerful themes and lessons: importance of oral history, the power of storytelling, depletion of our environment and natural resources, generational violence and corruption, bad/ self serving ego maniacal politicians. With the many confusing character names and vocabulary words, I had to really focus on each page. Not a page turner. Powerful
Powerful themes and lessons: importance of oral history, the power of storytelling, depletion of our environment and natural resources, generational violence and corruption, bad/ self serving ego maniacal politicians. With the many confusing character names and vocabulary words, I had to really focus on each page. Not a page turner. Powerful
November 11, 2025
This is probably the best book I’ve read this year. Its scope and depth are an impressive accomplishment, something like a Pacific Island version of the Odyssey. The amount of research Johnson must have put into this is mind-boggling.
It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea. It brims with Polynesian names, roles, places, cultural terms, poetry, myth, and lore that takes some time to understand and absorb… but after the first 80 pages or so, it all becomes second-nature.
It’s an immersive experience, packed with themes about the perils of complacency, the nature of leadership, and the power of the sea to connect all of life. Threaded through all of that is an adventure story, a romance, beautiful tropical realms, and plenty of magic. In short, it’s a gorgeous book.
Boy, do I love my boxes checked.
It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea. It brims with Polynesian names, roles, places, cultural terms, poetry, myth, and lore that takes some time to understand and absorb… but after the first 80 pages or so, it all becomes second-nature.
It’s an immersive experience, packed with themes about the perils of complacency, the nature of leadership, and the power of the sea to connect all of life. Threaded through all of that is an adventure story, a romance, beautiful tropical realms, and plenty of magic. In short, it’s a gorgeous book.
Boy, do I love my boxes checked.
did-not-finish
December 27, 2025December 2025, DNF at 30%. Thoughts to follow.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
December 18, 2025
There's a lot of great stuff in this book. The setting and the characters are unusual, and he describes the world in a way that makes you understand just how different it is. There's an intriguing mix of history and magical realism, and he presents everything in a sympathetic way that makes it feel both believable and otherworldly. I can't think of another book like it.
But I have to say, I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. It would probably have been much better at half the length. It was fine at first, but it dragged on, and on, and on, for a whopping 730 pages. I made myself finish it, because I wanted to find out whether it was going to end the way I thought it would (which it sort of did), but the last 450 pages became increasingly slow. There were whole chapters where almost nothing happened, except to reiterate things we already knew about the characters. (Yes, we know this guy's a bad guy. We know all the bad things he's done. And we know this person doesn't like him. You don't need to keep telling us.)
The plot was also hard to follow. There are two intertwined timelines. In one, we learn about all the bad stuff happening in Tonga (and other places - this timeline ends up splitting to follow several different people). In the other, we follow a bunch of people stuck on a remote island (who of course end up going to Tonga). Either of them would have made a great story, but together, it felt overwhelming and confusing. It would have worked much better to tell the story in a linear fashion: in Part 1 tell us about Tonga to set the scene, then, in Part 2, jump to the other place and follow them back to Tonga.
And lastly, some of the language was jarring. It feels wrong to say that a chief in Tonga a thousand years ago had a "Head of Security" - that's a very modern concept. And it was odd to have very occasional Polynesian (or is it Melanesian) words in there. Occasional poetry in the original language makes sense, but individual words feel out of place: it's fine to talk about someone's balls, but their penis is a "raho". Houses and boats are usually referred to in a local language. It feels like saying that Monsieur Berger got out of his voiture and went into the maison.
So... great idea, but it didn't work for me. Disappointing.
But I have to say, I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped. It would probably have been much better at half the length. It was fine at first, but it dragged on, and on, and on, for a whopping 730 pages. I made myself finish it, because I wanted to find out whether it was going to end the way I thought it would (which it sort of did), but the last 450 pages became increasingly slow. There were whole chapters where almost nothing happened, except to reiterate things we already knew about the characters. (Yes, we know this guy's a bad guy. We know all the bad things he's done. And we know this person doesn't like him. You don't need to keep telling us.)
The plot was also hard to follow. There are two intertwined timelines. In one, we learn about all the bad stuff happening in Tonga (and other places - this timeline ends up splitting to follow several different people). In the other, we follow a bunch of people stuck on a remote island (who of course end up going to Tonga). Either of them would have made a great story, but together, it felt overwhelming and confusing. It would have worked much better to tell the story in a linear fashion: in Part 1 tell us about Tonga to set the scene, then, in Part 2, jump to the other place and follow them back to Tonga.
And lastly, some of the language was jarring. It feels wrong to say that a chief in Tonga a thousand years ago had a "Head of Security" - that's a very modern concept. And it was odd to have very occasional Polynesian (or is it Melanesian) words in there. Occasional poetry in the original language makes sense, but individual words feel out of place: it's fine to talk about someone's balls, but their penis is a "raho". Houses and boats are usually referred to in a local language. It feels like saying that Monsieur Berger got out of his voiture and went into the maison.
So... great idea, but it didn't work for me. Disappointing.
October 29, 2025
This book is a rich journey across a dangerous sea.
I feel I have lived the lives within it, and gained the insights the characters have gained.
I feel as though my world has expanded to include some of the knowledge and wisdom of the culture of the Tongan people.
I have riden their wakas through the waves and storms of their world, and I am a better and broader person for it.
Thank you for this gift!
I feel I have lived the lives within it, and gained the insights the characters have gained.
I feel as though my world has expanded to include some of the knowledge and wisdom of the culture of the Tongan people.
I have riden their wakas through the waves and storms of their world, and I am a better and broader person for it.
Thank you for this gift!
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